I've been trying for a long time to figure out an easier method of putting in tracks to follow on trails. I've learned that most trails do show up naturally but some of the harder ones aren't there. So this is what I came up with.
Its a bit of a work in progress as I still haven't tested some other options that may be easier, but for right now, this works.
Things you'll need for the project:
SD data card
Google Earth
Garmin POI Loader
GPS Babel
First off, start up google earth and make a path. For help in making a path see these links:
google earth help
more help
Once you have your path drawn it should look something like this. See the faint white line.
Now go to File > Save to My places. For some reason, I couldn't just go "Save as" until it was saved to my places. So then click File > Save As and save the file as a kml file. In the save as type drop down box, you should see the .kml option.
Once the .kml file is saved, you need to open up GPS Babel.
In GPSBabel in the first line for input use the drop down arrow to select Google Earth (Keyhole) Markup Language. In the next line down, click the box on the right to select your .kml file.
For output use the drop down box to find GPX XML. In the box below is where you enter the file name. Click the button on the right to get to a "save as" option. Enter the file name. I don't know if all needs to be one word or not, I've always did it that way.
Make sure that waypoints is checked below. Then click the filter button. Check the Transform box and then select Tracks > Waypoints and click Ok.
Then click Lets Go. This will convert your .kml file from google earth into a .gpx file which can now be uploaded onto your SD card.
To do that open the Garmin POI Loader. Put your SD card into a card reader. My laptop has one built in and my PC has a simple usb card reader. Both work just fine.
Once the POI Loader has started up, insert the SD card into the reader, and click next. POI Loader should find the card automatically.
Then click next and on the next screen click "install new custom POI's onto your device. Then click next.
On the next screen browse to the directory where you saved the .gpx file. I've noticed that if you have more than one .gpx file saved, it'll only load the first one onto the card. So I make a new folder and put just the single .gpx file in it and then browse to that folder. Then click next and it should save the data on the card. Click finish.
Now take your card to the FJ and start it up. Go into the navigation part of the dnx7100 and hold the eject button for a second. The face will drop down and you can insert your SD card.
It'll ask you if you want to load your new custom POI's and it'll also warn you that any loaded in there now will be deleted.
Once your POI's are loaded, you can get to them by go into My Locations and then Custom POI's.
Right now, thats as far as I got. I haven't figured out how to make a path and then load it into the dnx7100 on the computer. You can edit a route in the dnx7100 features though and add all the way points. Personally, I don't really need a path, as long as I'm hitting the way points in order, I figure I'm good.
I know that if you use mapsource, you can transfer your path right to the card, however, I wasn't able to get this to work on my laptop and haven't tried on my pc yet.
If you don't have a copy of mapsource and would like to try it out:
Garmin MapSource For Free - Free Geography Tools
I don't know if .kml files can be opened in mapsource, if not, just use gpsbabel to convert it to a gpx file.
Hope that helps a little.
